Marking roads



wily 1935.. H. A. EMMONS -2,7,4

MARKING ROADS Filed Sept. 8, 1933 2 Sheets-Shee 1 July 9, 1935. H. A. EMMONS 2,007,524

.m nmuunmwu Patented July 9, 1935 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFIQE 1 'MABKING ROADS Herbert A. Emmons, Bloomfield, N. J Application September s, 1933, serials). 688,627

6 Claims, (01. 94-15) l i 10 placesdangerous to travel alonghighways, passage-ways, streets and elsewhere. To delineating areas resulting from such processes in factories and industrial plants to designate locations and boundaries; to indicate safety zones along car lines and in parking and other areas; by affording lines, dots, or indicia placed thereon in a discontinuous manner, of a color suitably contrasting with, and preferably lighter in color than the base or road bed to which applied, irrespective of the color or composition of the base to which the color is applied.

One of the objects of this invention is the application of such color to such surfaces and in such manner that the markings are discontinuous in contradistinction to solid markings, either in a regular or irregular character or manner. The discontinuity may be as to length where a single line is used, or discontinuous as to width if two or more colored lines (usually substantially parallel) are employed, or discontinuous both as to length and width of the colored in respect to the uncolored portion or portions, the ratio of painted to unpainted part depending upon the color, the width of the individual lines, the length of the same, the character and color of the surface to be painted, or a combination of two or more of the above, the important point being that the line, strip or the like may be adjusted or orientated as to proportion of painted to unpainted portion in any desired manner, so long as adequate visibility of colored portion is assured the vehicle driver or pedestrian, or both, under normal conditions prevailing.

A number of States have regulations specifying the width of the line to be painted in a road bed as a guide to traffic, and these lines usually range from four to six inches in diameter. In New Jersey, for instance, the line is specified to be six inches in width. The cost of painting such a line or stripe with the usual white paint now in use approximates twenty-nine dollars per running mile for re-painting, and around 36 dollars per mile where a new line is painted, i. e. where the roadbed is painted for the first time. Remembering that there is upwards of one million lineal miles of stripe in the United States now so painted, the' cost of the paint becomesa considerable item, and any method whereby the amountof paint may besubstantially diminished and still produce a satisfactory result, is of prime importance. In 1933 the State of New Jersey will use approximately 70,000 gallons of paint for this purpose.

As the culmination of a considerable period of research in painting test strips of various widths and lengths of individual strips, in test road beds of varying compositions and colors, and driving over the same in daytime and on moonless nights, at speeds varying from 20 to 50 miles and upwards per hour and with various drivers to assure a normal test as to observation and visual dis.

cermnent, I have found that the ratio of unpainted portion may vary from 50% to and sometimes more, in respect to the painted portion of a line that ordinarily is painted solid, and with a corresponding saving of fifty percent or more in the amount of paint required, where the painted and unpainted lines are placed in a more or less discontinuous patterned manner.

Comparing individual observers, and at varying speed of travel, there seems to be but little difference as to the particular pattern used as afiecting proper visibility in the daytime or at night, either with proper or defective illumination of vehicle or street illumination. Ordinarily, where the unpainted portion of an otherwise normal solid line is much above 60% under prevailing conditions, the line assumes a gray cast or color, especially at night, and is less readily observed and followed, therefore, in general it appears that a saving in sixty percent of the cost of the paint now used for this purpose, is about the maximum permissible.

A road, for example, having painted thereon to designate lanes of travel, of discontinuous lines or the like, appears as a continuous line where traveling thereover at normal speeds of travel, the discontinuity of the painted in respect to the unpainted portion not being observable to the driver, the line appearing as a continuous, homogeneous stripe. If the unpainted portion in respect to the painted portion is in stripes or segments of too great length, say twenty-five feet of painted line then an equal distance of unpainted, then a discontinuous appearance is apparent to the driver, unless high speeds are maintained. Therefore the limit of length of a painted as compared with an unpainted portion constituting the line should be limited by the fact that the line should appear continuous or substantially so, under normal speeds of driving, and under other normal conditions of travel prevailing.

The invention is illustrated by the following non-dimensional figures, but predicated upon a line of six inches in width as prevailing in the state of New Jersey, and showing some of the patterns which I have found to be satisfactory in the exemplification of my invention, and in which Fig. 1 represents the solid line or stripe as usually employed, generally of a white or yellow color, the width AB in New Jersey being 6 inches, and infinity the length of BD. Figures 2, 3, 4, 4a and 5, show a few of the many patterns possible where a saving in of paint is desired. Fig. 6 shows a pattern wherein two-thirds of the paint may be saved as over the painting of a solid line or stripe. My experiments have shown that, speaking as a generality, it is not expedient to endeavor to save more paint than that shown by a pattern as of Fig. 6.

The distance C should preferably be less than twenty-five feet, and I have obtained satisfactory results when C varies within the limits two to ten feet. In Fig. 3, the pattern appears excellent wherein the width of the painted and unpainted stripes are the same, that is, two to three feet.

I prefer to apply the color not by hand, but mechanically as described in my co-pending application, Serial Number 689,220 filed Sept. 13, 1933.

What I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

1. A trafiic lane marker consisting of a plurality of substantially parallel contiguous stripes comprising periodic interruptions, the interruptions in one stripe being staggered with respect to those in an adjacent stripe.

2. A trafl'ic lane marker consisting of two substantially parallel contiguous stripes comprising staggered periodic interruptions.

3. A traific lane marker consisting of three substantially parallel contiguous stripes comprising periodic interruptions, the interruptions in each of said stripes being staggered with respect to those in the other stripes.

4. A trafiic lane marker consisting of three substantially parallel contiguous stripes comprising periodic interruptions, the interruptions in the outer stripes being staggered with respect to those in the middle stripe.

5. A traflic lane marker consisting of three substantially parallel contiguous stripes compris ing periodic interruptions, the interruptions in one outer stripe being staggered with respect to those in the middle stripe but not with respect to those in the other outer stripe.

6. A trafiic lane marker consisting of three substantially parallel contiguous stripes comprising periodic interruptions, the interruptions in the middle stripe being staggered with respect to those in the outside stripes.

HERBERT A. EMMONS. 

